ELT Playbook 1 – Sandy Millin’s Reflective Tasks

If you’ve been reading my blog or done Delta and looked at other Delta blogs, you will most definitely have come across Sandy Millin’s blog. It is a phenomenal resource and Sandy provides excellent advice, tips and news on a whole range of ELT-related topics, not just Delta. Earlier this year, Sandy released her book ELT Playbook, the blurb of which reads:

ELT Playbook 1 contains a selection of 30 tasks to help teachers to reflect on what they do, centred particularly on the areas that seem to cause most problems for those new to our profession. It is based on my work as a CELTA trainer and as a manager of newly-qualifed teachers. There is also an associated online community where participants can choose to share their reflections and learn from others using the book, taking the first steps to building up an online support network.

After seeing that Sandy had released this, I immediately went to Amazon and got my copy. The book is divided into six sets of tasks: Back to basics, Examining language, Upgrading skills, Being creative, Exploring your context, and Teacher health and wellbeing. Each of these sets has five tasks that can be completed and reflected upon.

Perhaps the most important and interesting aspect of this book is the reflective ‘process’. Sandy has provided the reader with various guiding questions for each of the tasks and then also goes into detail about how the reflection can be carried out via blog post, recordings, etc. Furthermore, once the reader has completed each set of tasks, they can earn an open badge, which can be displayed on your CV, LinkedIn profile, Facebook and many other social media platforms.

Now, much to my dismay, I have yet had time to devote to completing some of the tasks in the book (it’s been sitting on my desk staring at me). Well, enough is enough and it’s about time that I get down to it. My goal is to either complete or use in training all of the tasks in ELT Playbook 1 over the remainder of this academic year.

If you would like to read more about the book (and can’t wait for my future posts), then take a look at Sandy’s post.

And, if you are serious about your own professional development, why not get your own copy here!